• Services in your home
  • Homecare service

Comfort Call Newcastle

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Park View Grange, Blakelaw, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE5 3TD (0191) 271 1500

Provided and run by:
Comfort Call Limited

Latest inspection summary

On this page

Background to this inspection

Updated 21 September 2023

The inspection

We carried out this performance review and assessment under Section 46 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act). We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements of the regulations associated with the Act and looked at the quality of the service to provide a rating.

Unlike our standard approach to assessing performance, we did not physically visit the office of the location. This is a new approach we have introduced to reviewing and assessing performance of some care at home providers. Instead of visiting the office location we use technology such as electronic file sharing and video or phone calls to engage with people using the service and staff.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

The service is a domiciliary care service. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager in post. A new manager had been in post since 26 May 2023 and had submitted an application to register. We are currently assessing this application.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours' notice of the inspection. This was to make arrangements to carry out a virtual inspection and we needed to be sure that the provider or manager would be available to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 18 July 2023 and ended on 25 July 2023. We contacted people and relatives on 20 July 2023.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we held about the service. We sought feedback from the local authority, professionals who work with the service and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used the information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 3 people who used the service and 8 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with the manager, co-ordinator and received email feedback from 7 care staff.

We reviewed a range of records including 3 people's care and medicines records. We looked at recruitment records for 3 members of staff. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures, were also reviewed.

This performance review and assessment was carried out without a visit to the location's office. We used technology such as video/telephone calls and emails to enable us to engage with people using the service and staff, and electronic file sharing to enable us to review documentation.

Following the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We reviewed all evidence sent to us electronically by the provider.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 21 September 2023

About the service

Comfort Call Newcastle is a domiciliary care service that provides care and support to people living in specialist 'extra care' housing. Park View Grange provides extra care housing in purpose-built properties for people aged 55 years and over. The accommodation is bought or rented, and is the occupant's own home. People's care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for extra care housing; this inspection looked at people's personal care and support service. Not everyone living at Park View Grange requires support with personal care. At the time of the inspection the service was providing personal care and support to 27 people.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People and relatives were very happy with the service, felt it was safe and staff were caring. One person told us, “Staff are kind, caring and friendly.” A relative said, “They are great. I feel listened to and have a good relationship with the carers.”

Risks to people’s health, safety and well-being were effectively managed. People were safeguarded from abuse. Staff were recruited safely, and the provider employed enough trained staff to meet people’s needs. Effective infection prevention and control measures were in place. Medicines were managed safely.

Staff respected people’s privacy and dignity and promoted their independence. People were supported to make choices about their care. Staff worked effectively with external professionals to ensure people received the support they wanted and needed.

People and their relatives felt the service was well-managed. The manager promoted an open, honest culture and was approachable. The provider promoted continuous learning and improvement. Standards at the service were effectively monitored and developed. Feedback was regularly sought and valued.

This was an 'inspection using remote technology'. This means we did not visit the office location and instead used technology such as electronic file sharing to gather information, and video and phone calls to engage with people using the service as part of this performance review and assessment.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 23 November 2018).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe, caring and well-led only.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

The overall rating for the service remains good based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Comfort Call Newcastle on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.